Following amendments in the Schedule VII of the new Companies Act of 2013, with effect from April 1, 2014, every company, private or public limited, which either has a net worth of `500 crore or a turnover of `1,000 crore or net profit of `5 crore, needs to spend at least 2 per cent of its average net profit for the immediately preceding three financial years on corporate social responsibility activities (CSR). The CSR activities should not be undertaken in the normal course of business and must be with respect to any of the activities mentioned in Schedule VII of the 2013 Act. It is incumbent now upon all public and private corporates to follow the law of the land in adopting the provisions laid out in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the which is a continuing commitment by businesses to behave ethically and to contribute to nation’s economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local communities and society at large.

BHEL’s Mission: Be a Committed Corporate Citizen

BHEL’s contributions towards CSR till date include adoption of villages, organizg free medical camps/supporting charitable dispensaries, schools for the underprivileged and handicapped children, providing aid during disasters/natural calamities, providing employment to handicapped and ex-serviceman, rainwater harvesting, plantation of millions of trees, energy saving and conservation of natural resources through environmental management. BHEL has identified eight key thrust areas under which the CSR activities are carried out in the compnay. Globally, the business scenario has been undergoing an unprecedented change leading to evolution of innovative strategies. Organizations are increasingly realizing that their operations have a large impact on not only stakeholders like employees, shareholders, suppliers, customers but also on members of public sphere, communities and environment. It is considered to be the moral responsibility for an organization to take care of the surroundings and people whose lives are being impacted by its operations

Every business enterprise must take responsibility and be accountable for the social and environmental effects it has in its surroundings. Through this the concept of CSR emerged, paving a way for businesses to return back to the society from the profits it earns. Such initiatives on the part of a company to improve livelihood of people and preserving environment at surroundings of its operations also go a long way in gathering acceptance from local communities.

Engagement of local communities is essential for long-term sustainability for any organization. This also ensures enhancement of triple bottom line of People- Planet-Profit, depicting the inclusive growth for an organization. CSR is the way to move forward for all organizations and become good corporate citizens by preserving the environment and bettering lives of all stakeholders.

Indian Oil: Improving Quality of Life

Indian Oil has been actively engaged in a gamut of social welfare and upliftment activities across the nation in thrust areas including safe drinking water and protection of water resources, healthcare and sanitation, education and employmentenhancing vocational skills, empowerment of women and socially/economically backward groups. The CSR projects of Indian Oil are mostly undertaken in the vicinity of its establishments for improving the quality of life of the community, which invariably includes marginalized groups belonging to the underprivileged section of the society. Indian Oil has a longstanding CSR legacy, which started much before the CSR legislation (Companies Act, 2013) came into force in 2014-15. For the year 2017- 18, entire budget allocation of `331.05 crore was spent on CSR activities, thereby achieving 100 per cent budget utilization.

Key CSR Initiatives

The Institute of Chemical Technology- Mumbai, Indian Oil Odisha Campus (ICTM-IOC), Bhubaneswar: President of India inaugurated ICTM-IOC at Bhubaneswar on March 18, 2018. ICTM-IOC will offer first-of-its-kind programmes viz. five-year integrated M.Tech. and two-year Executive M.Tech. in addition to Ph.D. courses. Skill Development Institute, Bhubaneshwar: Skill Development Institute, Bhubaneswar (SDI-B) was established in May 2016 with an aim to provide opportunities for skilling and livelihood to the unemployed and underprivileged youth of Odisha and to provide skilled manpower to the industry. Initially, SDI-B started operation in two trades, viz. industrial electrician & welder, however, with increasing demand of skilled manpower, four new courses, viz. fitter, instrumentation, computer data application (only for girls) and pipe fitter were added in 2017- 18. Once functional, about 4,000 youth will be trained every year in 16 regular trades pertaining to the hydrocarbon sector and local industries.

Kaushal Vikas Kendra, Barauni, Bihar: Indian Oil’s Kaushal Vikas Kendra, Barauni started functioning from March 2017 with an aim to provide skill training to the youth of Begusarai district, in which skill training is provided in five trades, viz. plumbing, masonry, welding, fitter and electrician. Skill Training in Plastic Engineering trades in Assam, Odisha & West Bengal: Plastic industry centric skill training was provided to unemployed youth in Assam, Odisha & West Bengal through Central Institute of Plastics & Engineering Technology (CIPET) centres at Guwahati, Bhubaneswar and Haldia. Three to six month skill training was provided in 3 trades viz. machine operator, injection moulding and plastic processing.

Multi Skill Development Institute, Digboi: Multi-Skill Development Institute (iMSDI) in Digboi started operations in 2014 to provide vocational skill training to local youth in various industry-linked skills and competencies. Every year, about 400 youth benefit from this project. Assam Oil School of Nursing, Digboi: Assam Oil School of Nursing (AOSN) was established in 1986. It offers threeyear diploma course in general nursing and midwifery and four-year B.Sc. (nursing) course to 60 young girls. Gyanodaya scheme in ITIs & Polytechnics: This scheme was launched in 2017 with the aim to provide scholarships on merit-cum-means basis to students pursuing two-year regular courses in government ITIs and three-year regular courses in government polytechnics to incentivize them to perform well. The scheme aims to cover 36 government institutes (18 ITIs and 18 polytechnics) near the IOC refinery locations. Some 50 students per batch are selected from each institute every year. Each student is provided scholarship `1,000 per month for the entire duration of the regular courses.

Supporting and sustaining five schools at Refinery units: Indian Oil is supporting and sustaining four kendriya vidyalayas at four refinery units at Barauni, Guwahati, Haldia and Mathura and one higher secondary school at Bongaigaon. Indian Oil provides infrastructure facilities with well-equipped facilities, viz. labs, library, playground, etc for all-round development of the students. During 2017-18, some 3,345 students were supported through these schools. Assistive devices to Divyangjans: Indian Oil, in association with Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation (ALIMCO), provided assistive devices like tricycles, wheelchairs, crutches, walking sticks, hearing aids, artificial limbs, etc. to Divyangjans in Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Odisha and Bihar.

Quenching the thirst of villagers & illuminating villages: Indian Oil, through its flagship CSR projects Jal-Jeevan & Surya Prakash, has fulfilled the need for clean drinking water and illumination of many villages, including hope town village of South Andaman district. Enclosure for Asiatic lions: Indian Oil constructed an enclosure for Asiatic lions in Dr. Shivarama Karantha Pilikula Nisarga Dhama (Biological Park), Mangaluru, which is spread over an area of 142 hectares. The enclosure will provide exclusive habitation for the Asiatic lions, which is an endangered species.

Swachh Bharat : A CSR initiative by ONGC

The Swachh Bharat Campaign is implemented across ONGC by conducting regular cleanliness drives in office premises, installations and in and around operational areas of ONGC. The historic Jantar Mantar adopted by ONGC witness’s regular cleanliness drive on weekly basis to retain its magnificent glory. Under Swachh Smarak, ONGC would incorporate upgradation, beautification, cleanliness and maintenance of monuments including construction, restoration/refurbishment, illumination, landscaping, etc based on a Comprehensive Conservation and Development Plan as developed by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). For Swachh Vidhyalaya campaign, the project of providing sanitation facilities to 8,500 schools across India is through NGOs and Sulabh Sauchalaya. ONGC aims to create 50,000 individuals household latrines per year at various operational areas by financially supporting the state government sanitation missions there. Some 500 events per annum such as quiz competition, drawing competitions, poster competition, etc. are also to be conducted to implement the campaigns on real-time basis and to bring greater awareness among the employees and schoolchildren.

• Project Utkarsh- Livelihood Project in Sibasagar
• ONGC-NSTFDC Hathkargha Prashikshan
• ONGC Hospitals
• ONGC-GICEIT Computer Centre
• Udaan — An ONGC CSR Enterprise
• Varisthajana Swasthya Sewa Abhiyan
• Harit Moksha — A Unique CSR Venture
• ONGC-Eastern Swamp Deer Conservation Project in Kaziranga National Park

CSR in BPCL: Nation Building

BPCL’s CSR policy as approved by the board as per the amended Companies Act of 2013. In brief: In every financial year, at least 2 per cent of average net profits of the company made during the three immediately preceding financial years will be earmarked for undertaking CSR activities. The CSR Committee of the board consists of five directors, i.e. Independent Director as Chairman, two part-time (ex-officio) Directors, Director (HR) and Director (F) as members which is the approving committee for all CSR projects. Schedule VII of the new Companies Act 2013 has given a list of ten activities under which CSR activities may be taken up. Within these ten activities, BPCL takes up CSR projects largely in the five core thrust areas. BPCL has three-tier system in place for executing CSR projects. CSR projects being undertaken for stakeholders in the value chain of our business.

The CSR projects are largely executed in and around our business units mainly in the above mentioned thrust areas. Furthermore, certain initiatives are carried out in rural and tribal areas for backward, underprivileged, population as well. These are with the sole intention of nation building. Earmark up to 5 per cent of total CSR budget each year for capacity building of employees as well as CSR implementation partners through institutions with well-established track record of at least three financial years. The CSR expenditure shall include contribution to corpus, subject to approvals.

NTPC: Focus on Environment Protection

Core to the company’s philosophy, CSR has been an integral part of NTPC’s business of power generation and lighting up the lives of millions of Indians. NTPC’s spirit of caring and sharing is embedded in its mission statement. NTPC believes that communities located in the vicinity of projects as well as those displaced by them are important partners/stakeholders in India’s growth story. Based on our dedication to the cause since its inception, NTPC has a comprehensive resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) policy covering community development activities. There is a separate CSR-Community Development Policy which covers a vast gamut of activities starting from the grassroots at the unit level right up to the regional and national level.

NTPC’s CSR initiatives and programmes are benefiting over a million people in some 500 villages. NTPC is also a member of Global Compact Network, India and confirms its involvement in various CSR activities in line with 10 Global Compact principles and shares its experiences with the world via “Communication on Progress”, a public disclosure.

Focus Areas

Like the colours of a rainbow, NTPC’s involvement in community development projects covers a diverse range of issues such as basic infrastructure development, education, community health and sanitation, capacity building and gender empowerment. The projects are customized based on specific local requirements and guided by extensive need assessment surveys and consultations through various participative forums like Village Development Advisory Committee, Rehabilitation and Periphery Development Advisory.

Committee. The active participation/engagement and ownership of these initiatives by the local communities is the key to the smooth and successful implementation of these schemes. The company spent `241.54 crore in CSR activities during fiscal year 2017-18.

CIL HOLISTIC OBJECTIVE

CIL is responsible to the environment of India by virtue of its very role of digging coal and affecting the environmental conditions of the country. CIL is duly implementing CSR projects all over the country, matching with the local needs to win the confidence of the public. CIL provides funding for Premashraya, a home for underprivileged cancer patients to provide accommodation for free or at highly subsidized rates to underprivileged cancer patients and their families. Those patients, without this support, would have landed up on streets of Kolkata for shelter, while undergoing their treatment, which would have further lead to infection, lack of hygiene, malnutrition, improper attention and care. Special cancer awareness sessions are aimed at preventing and early detection of the disease.

Most underprivileged people find it hard to arrange for accommodation and often resort to unhygienic places in some cases to streets also which negatively affects their ongoing treatment. Hence, the poor and underprivileged cancer patients are the targeted beneficiaries. Healthcare is chosen as a thematic area because cancer is increasingly becoming a leading cause of death in India with over 10 lakh new cases every year and over seven lakh deaths every year. Premashraya has helped the cancer patients visiting TMC immensely. Now the patients do not have to worry for the accommodation during their stay. CIL has taken up holistic Development of 40 villages in Purulia district, West Bengal. Beneficiary group for energy, agriculture and KRCs is the whole population of these villages. Since the problems which these intervention intend to solve are uniform for whole of the population of the village, the whole village population was selected as the beneficiary group. The agriculture activity covers 1,250 households in 10 villages. These were shortlisted based on the primary occupation being agriculture, availability of land and favourable soil conditions for the intervention.

Purulia district is one of backward districts of West Bengal and also a part of the district close to the two blocks of project implementation lies close to the coal field areas of Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL), a subsidiary of CIL. Each subsidiary of CIL as well as CIL (HQ) have their separate CSR departments to implement CSR activities. The overall guidance of CSR is provided by CIL and subsidiary companies Boards and the board level CSR committees (having three board level executives, with at least one independent director). General manager / chief manager rank people are heading the CSR departments. There are CSR committees at HQ and areas which have executives from other disciplines also to better scrutinize the CSR projects. CIL is the only Maharatna Company which has recruited 120 executives specializing in CSR-related disciplines. The CSR budget and expenditure of CIL during fiscal year 2017-18 was `504.51 crore. Being a coal giant and with one of the largest CSR budget, CIL has the opportunity to be more innovative and implement innovative CSR programmes which are scalable and replicable in bigger number than the Premashraya project. The list of important CSR activities taken up by cial India rae providing schloaships to BPL students, financial assistance for purchase of an ambulance, homes for underprivileged, disabled children, assistance in digging borewells, hostel gor BPL students, medical help for cataract patients, and providing infrastructure for a school building, sports complexes, help in solid waste managements, construction of public toilets.

SAIL’S CSR: SOCIAL & ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS

Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) is the largest steel maker of India. SAIL is the top public sector enterprise in terms of turnover with the prestigious status of “Maharatna”. Owing to this there is responsibility of being a catalyst for positive change. Apart from the business of manufacturing steel, the objective of the company is to conduct business in ways that produce social, environmental and economic benefits to the communities in which it operates. SAIL’s socio-economic objectives are echoed in their principle which includes a commitment to uphold the highest ethical standards in conduct of business, and of valuing the opportunity and responsibility “to make a meaningful difference in people’s lives”. SAIL’s concern for people also reflects the company’s commitment towards society at large, which it endeavours to fulfill through wide ranging and diversified initiatives and activities under CSR

For SAIL, CSR has been an integral part of its operations ever since the establishment of its production units in remote locations of the country since the early 1950s.The present research paper tries to focus the practice of CSR status in SAIL. It provides insight into what extent company follows the CSR. It would throw light on CSR of SAIL which would be of both economic and social interest. It also provides few corrective measures on their CSR practices and performance. The funds allocated for CSR shall not be diverted to any other purpose. A dedicated CSR fund, separate from the main budget, was created by SAIL so as to avoid lapse of fund and ensure full utilization of dedicated funds. 

THRUST AREAS IN CSR

Healthcare SAIL has established 44 primary health centres, 12 reproductive and child health centres, 17 hospitals and 7 super-specialty hospitals for providing specialized healthcare to more than 34 million people since inception. Kalyan Chikitsalayas, Sarve Swasthya Kendra, exclusive health centres for the poor and the needy has been setup at five locations, where free medical treatment and medicines are provided. Free medical treatment to more than 30,000 patients annually is provided in these exclusive centers. Education for 146 schools have been set up in the steel townships for providing modern education to about 70,000 children and assistance has been provided to over 286 schools of villages surrounding steel plants/units for free education of more than 55,000 students. 225 tribal children at Bhilai and 12 boys of the nearly extinct Birhore tribe at Bokaro have been adopted and are provided free education, boarding and lodging.

With the help of Akshay Patra Foundation, SAIL is providing midday meals to more than 23,000 students in different schools of Bhilai every day. In order to support the existing school infrastructure, SAIL has been providing additional classrooms across the country and such projects are in progress at Bhilai, Durgapur, Bokaro, Rourkela, Burnpur, as well as areas where SAIL carries out mining activities. Besides this, SAIL has supported Chhattisgarh Technical University with `50 crore, for promotion of technical education and industry-education collaboration.

Solar power promotion of alternative source of energy is one of the thrust areas of SAIL. SAIL under this initiative is supporting setting up of 100-KW Community Solar Power Plants in Jarri, Albert Ekka Block in Jharkhand with the help of Jharkhand Renewable Energy Development Agency. SAIL is also installing solar street lights at public places to eradicate the problem of power crisis in rural areas of the country. Calamity Aid SAIL has always been a trend setter in supporting people during natural calamities and recently it has supported construction of low-cost houses at Leh after a cloud burst. It provided galvanized sheets to Sikkim earthquake victims.

SAIL supported wrestlers Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt and Deepak Sharma, all of whom won top honours and made the nation proud during international events such as the Beijing Olympics and Commonwealth Games 2010. SAIL was the sponsor of World Cup Hockey 2010 and is also sponsoring the Asian Tour-level SAIL Open Golf Championship for the past four years, besides prestigious annual events such as Davis Cup, SAIL Trophy Cricket Tournament, DSA league, Nehru Cup, etc. Preservation of art and culture promotion and preservation of various forms of Indian arts and cultures enriches our cultural diversity. To fulfill this aspiration, SAIL has supported maintenance of monuments in Delhi’s Lodhi Gardens, and Vedvyas, Saraswati Kund in Rourkela. To take care of distinct features of tribal culture, a five day Chhattisgarh Lok Kala Mahotsav is celebrated every year in Bhilai and nearby places in which more than 600 artistes.

CSR BUDGET ALLOCATION

Under the CSR, the SAIL is allocating funds for the CSR activities as per the guidelines prescribed by the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE). SAIL has made commitments through Board‟s Resolution and CSR policy respectively to the cause of CSR and has earmarked 2 per cent of the distributable surplus from the year 2006-07 for CSR activities. This amount is utilized for social development. So far as environment and safety issues are concerned.